


petrichor

by almostannette



Series: Annette's ATLA fics [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: But he's doing his best to process them, Gen, Introspection, Mild Angst, One-Shot, Post-Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders, Pre-Zutara, Zuko is bad at feelings, character exploration, tiniest hints of Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostannette/pseuds/almostannette
Summary: He’s seen Katara grow into a warrior in the span of just a few months. Did she know she was a prodigy? She’d certainly never mentioned it or rubbed it under Zuko’s nose – the fact that she’d not only mastered her element when he’d still been struggling to move beyond the basics of firebending but that she’d done so in record time.After the confrontation with Yon Rha, Zuko reflects on Katara and the mistakes he made in the past.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Annette's ATLA fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892011
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	petrichor

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I've been voraciously reading ATLA fic for years and now I've finally worked up the courage to write a little fic myself :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy! ;)

The wind was tousling Zuko’s hair. Months ago, when he’d still been chasing the Avatar, Zuko had sometimes wondered how it felt to travel on the back of a flying bison. Just like the airbender, Appa was a relic from the past, the only survivor of a civilization long eradicated.

Eradicated by one of his great-grandfathers, no less…

He’d  _ technically  _ traveled on the bison’s back before he’d joined the Avatar, but that had been at the North Pole when he’d been unconscious and tied up to boot.

Traveling by flying bison, Zuko had quickly decided, was decidedly less comfortable than traveling by war balloon or by airship. The saddle moved per the motions of the massive beast carrying it and whenever Appa took a deep breath, the whole saddled vibrated. It took some getting used to the beast’s movement to develop the necessary equilibrium to move naturally during flight.

Well, except for the Avatar perhaps, but he was an airbender. Flying was in his nature and traveling surrounded by his element was the obvious choice, especially when the bison were the original airbenders.

Thinking back to the masters Ran and Shaw, Zuko wondered what traveling on the back of a dragon must have felt like for the firebenders of centuries past.

Zuko’s thoughts shifted to the waterbender sitting next to him.

He’d seen Katara grow into a warrior in the span of just a few months. Did she know she was a prodigy? She’d certainly never mentioned it or rubbed it under Zuko’s nose – the fact that  _ she _ ’d not only mastered her element when  _ he _ ’d still been struggling to move beyond the basics of firebending but that she’d done so in record time.

Zuko remembered the state of Katara’s bending abilities. Not even a year ago, she’d been struggling to complete the most basic forms, but when he’d fought her at the North Pole, he’d had to fight a master. And such massive improvement had only come from a stolen waterbending scroll and a few weeks of instruction by a master? Truly extraordinary.

Azula was a prodigy, but not even she’d mastered her element in such a short amount of time. His sister used to have access to the best firebending tutors the Fire Nation had to offer, often even receiving personal instruction from their father.

Father, who’d never commented on Zuko’s firebending, except to point out what a failure he was.

The more he thought about it, the more Zuko was convinced Katara truly didn’t know how extraordinary her skills were. And how could she know? The benders she could compare herself to were Toph, an earthbending genius who turned her blindness into an asset and the Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world (although Zuko’s father would probably not approve of that description). Even without Aang’s Avatar status… Zuko had learned enough about airbender culture to recognize that Aang’s tattoos were a reflection of his status as a master airbender. To have reached this status at age twelve was a testament to the boy’s talent and skill.

And what had his father said about Zuko? He’d thought Zuko was a non-bender, which would have been an unbearable embarrassment for a man like Ozai. The Fire Lord was supposed to be the most powerful firebender in the world, at least that’s how Zuko had been brought up, which was why it had rankled him so much that Azula surpassed him so effortlessly when it came to firebending. Forms Zuko struggled with for weeks and months on end, she mastered with such ease that it frightened even her instructors.

How was Zuko supposed to be an adequate Crown Prince – the future Fire Lord, the next most powerful firebender in the world – if his younger sister could bend circles around him?

It had taken Uncle Iroh to teach him there were other forms of power that went beyond aggressive bending and other qualities a ruler needed to possess besides an unquenchable thirst for power.

Tentatively, Zuko reached up and brushed his fingers against the edges of his scar. For the longest time, he’d used to think his father had insisted on the Agni Kai and the punishment because Zuko had disrespected him and Ozai needed to assert his authority over Zuko, both as father and as Fire Lord.

But what kind of ruler was Ozai if he felt threatened by a thirteen-year-old speaking out against him? What kind of Fire Lord was his father, if he thought that valuing the life of Fire Nation citizens was a sign of weakness?

A truly strong ruler, secure on the throne and beloved by the people, would have not felt threatened by a thirteen-year-old boy and would never have felt compelled to stage a barbarian Agni Kai, as Ozai had done and follow it up with banishment and the senseless task of hunting the Avatar.

In the end, Ozai was a much weaker man than he would ever admit.

And it had taken Zuko years away from his father to see the truth about him.

When it came down to it, yes, his father had been right, in a twisted way. Zuko had indeed learned respect and suffering had been his teacher in more ways than one.

He’d learned to respect other cultures besides the Fire Nation, and he’d suffered under the weight of his mistakes.

But he was making a difference, day by day, step by step. He’d started admitting his mistakes and working to correct them, doing his best to right the wrongs of his past.

Zuko glanced at the water-bending prodigy next to him and felt the faintest tug of a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Yes, he was starting to fix his past mistakes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you've liked the fic, please consider leaving a comment and/or kudos! <3
> 
> PS: This work is unbeta'd and since I'm not a native speaker, I'm sure I've made some mistakes. If you've noticed any spelling errors, grammar mistakes etc., I'd be grateful if you pointed them out to me!


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